Winter Break
by Nyhne
Summary: It's the last day of before Winter Break, and Roderich decides that he's tired of pretending. High School AU. Written for the PruAus Advent Calendar on Tumblr.


_Short High School AU drabble for the PruAus Advent Calendar on Tumblr. Was supposed to be for the 21st, but I had computer troubles and then my family has been in town. Sorry!_

 _The day before Winter Break always felt like the point where stuff would either come to a head, or it wouldn't. Luckily for Roderich and Gil, it works out._

Roderich knew that by late January, they would all be sick of the snow. But as it began to fall in thick white flakes outside the classroom window, he couldn't help but look outside and daydream about hot coco and winter wonderlands just like every other student at Wilson High who was waiting for Christmas Break to finally arrive.

Most teachers had planned holiday parties or a movie for that last day of classes, but of course Roderich's second period chemistry class couldn't be that lucky. Chemistry had never been Roderich's favorite subject in the first place, and on the last day before break, Roderich found his mind easily straying.

And despite his heart telling him better, Roderich eventually found his thoughts straying to a certain pale-haired student sitting on the other side of the room.

For the entire semester, their chemistry teacher had had the misfortune of having both Gilbert Beilschmidt and his best friend Francis Bonnefoy in the same class. The pair appeared to be doodling on Francis' notebook at the moment, snickers breaking out between them every once in a while. Roderich was sure their teacher was at wit's end with the troublemaking duo, but after an entire semester of their antics, one could only fight so much. Plus, there was the little annoying fact that Gilbert was the top student in their class.

Roderich's eyes traced over the other student's unruly, pale blond locks and his broad shoulders. Gilbert had still retained some of the lankiness Roderich remembered from their childhood, but his figure had quickly bulked up since entering high school.

And Roderich couldn't well say that he minded the changes. As many other students were already aware, the older Beilschmidt brother had grown up quite handsomely.

Unfortunately, it also left Roderich in a rather uncomfortable situation.

His friendship with Gilbert had never been quite so simple, and since the 8th grade, certain _encounters_ had made Roderich wonder what exactly they were to one another.

But Gilbert had never seemed very keen on answering that question, and so Roderich was left with his feelings of confusion. He couldn't deny that he was attracted to the other boy—Roderich had known he was gay since he was seven years old, ever since he had kissed his childhood friend Vash because he'd seen his parents doing it. And as much as he annoyed Roderich on a daily basis, there was also something infuriatingly charming about Gilbert's immature mannerisms.

Roderich knew it was all rather pathetic.

"Hey, Specs!"

Gilbert's voice cut across the din of students moving to their next class as Roderich exited the classroom. When Roderich looked up, Gilbert was standing with Francis next to the student announcement boards, fingers hooked confidently in the straps of his backpack and a smirk on his face. Roderich detested himself a bit for feeling his heart flutter and his stomach tighten at seeing the other boy.

"What do you want, Beilschmidt?"

Roderich infused his voice with the same haughty disdain he always used around the other. At one point in time, the disdain had been real, and Roderich thanked his lucky stars that he could draw upon his theatre classes to keep the charade going.

Francis tutted mockingly. "Someone's being an ice queen today," he leered.

Gilbert snickered and leaned back on his heels. "Geeze, Specs, what gives? You on your period or something?"

Roderich gave them both a withering look. "Did you actually want something, or did you only want to waste my time?"

At that, Gilbert straightened up, his expression sobering some. "Meet me after school in the usual place?" he asked, one eyebrow quirked.

Roderich glanced at Francis first, who had taken a sudden, suspicious interest in his phone. "Gilbert, it's the last day of school before break," he stated bluntly.

"Yeah, and?" Gilbert raised his eyebrow higher.

 _And, I'm tired. I'm tired of dealing with this. I don't want to start my Christmas Break like this._

But Roderich could already feel himself giving in.

"Fine," he said, averting his eyes to the floor and feeling his stomach tighten even more as he spoke. From his periphery, he saw Gilbert's smirk grow into a grin and Francis give the other boy a sly look.

 _Why can't I just say no?_

The rest of the school day passed by in slow dread, the knot in Roderich's stomach growing as the snowfall increased outside. By the last bell of the day, Roderich felt like he'd much rather curl into bed than deal with the tempest brewing in his stomach. Instead, as soon as most of the student body had cleared out, laughing and excited to start their winter break, Roderich slipped into the boys' bathroom down the music hall.

Gilbert was already there by the time he arrived. The other boy was leaning against the puke-yellow wall with roguish ease, uncaring of any sanitary concerns.

Which, despite being a public school bathroom, the lavatories down the music wing were rarely used, and therefore relatively clean. They sported surprisingly good acoustics, and were favored by the music student for rehearsal. Amongst other things.

"About time," Gilbert smirked once Roderich showed up. The pale-haired student pushed his way off the tile wall and stood with his hands stuck in his pockets. Roderich approached him warily, brows already furrowed.

"Do we really have to do this?" he asked. "It's the last day of school before break. I just want to go home."

"I mean, we can _go home_ if you want—" Gilbert started out lewdly before Roderich cut him off.

" _Gilbert_ ," he cut in, causing the other boy to frown. "I don't want to do this anymore. I'm—I'm tired of being your little plaything."

Across from him, Gilbert's brows creased heavily towards the middle. He dropped the bad boy bravado and reached one hand up to push his bangs back, the motion temporarily breaking the questioning stare directed Roderich's way.

"Plaything?" he repeated.

Roderich sucked in a quick breath. "Yes, _plaything_ ," he steadied himself to say. "This. Us. We've been doing this for years and I don't even know what we are. As far as I can tell, you only keep me around to get yourself off when you don't have anyone else to sleep with."

Gilbert's frown deepened. "Roddy…" he said, taking a step closer. "Is that really what you think this is?"

Roderich took a step back, avoiding the other boy's gaze as he shook his head. "How else am I supposed to view it, Gilbert?"

The other boy gave a very honest shrug. "I don't know," he admitted. "But I didn't think that was a bad thing."

Outside the bathroom, a random door slammed shut, a pair of voices trailing off further and further down the hall until they were left only with the background ringing of the fluorescent lights above them. Roderich wrapped his arms around himself and let Gilbert's words hang in the air.

"Roddy." The other boy took another step forward. "I can't help whatever this is if you don't tell me what's wrong. I thought you were fine with how things were. What part of our arrangement don't you like?"

Roderich thought of what he really wanted to tell Gilbert and felt his cheeks heat up. There was no way Gilbert would return his feelings—all he was to the other student was a bit of entertainment when he was bored.

"I can't tell you," he muttered, trying to look anywhere but the pale-haired male in front of him.

"Roderich."

Strong, but gentle hands suddenly grabbed his shoulders and Roderich gasped, eyes wide as he stared at the other right in front of him. Gilbert's dark bronze eyes were unusually serious.

"You said it yourself earlier: it's the last day before winter break. I don't want to leave things like this with my best friend."

Roderich rolled his eyes, otherwise making no move to escape the other's grasp. "I'm not your best friend, Francis is."

"Yeah, you are," Gilbert rebutted firmly. "Francis is my best mate, but he's not you. I haven't been friends with him or Tonio as long as I've been friends with you."

Roderich looked to the ceiling of the bathroom and felt his shoulders slump. _Friend_. Right.

"But that's the problem, Gil," he said, his chest tightening at the admittance. "I…I don't want to be just friends."

Roderich closed his eyes, feeling Gilbert's hold of him slacken as soon as the words were registered.

"Oh…" the other boy said.

"Yeah," Roderich said glumly. He rubbed at his own arm and averted his eyes to a brown stain under the sink. "I—I told you it was better if I didn't say."

For a long moment, it was just Gilbert and him in the music wing bathroom, neither of them saying or doing anything. Roderich knew he should just leave. It was obvious that Gilbert didn't return his feelings, and now that he knew Roderich wanted something more, he probably wouldn't want to continue their current arrangement.

 _What a crappy way to start the break…._

He didn't expect the pair of arms to suddenly wrap around him, pulling him into a firm hug.

"Stupid Roddy," Gilbert's warm breath laughed softly against his ear. "Why didn't you just say that's what you wanted?"

"Wh-What?" Roderich replied intelligibly.

"I've liked you for a long time. I just didn't think you would like me back, that's why I've tried to keep my distance with this friends with benefits stuff. I always just assumed you still hated me a bit like when we were kids," he chuckled.

Roderich continued to gape. "You—you _liked_ me?"

"Still like you," Gilbert corrected, pulling back enough to grin at him. "If you're into that, I mean."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Roderich asked, still desperately trying to catch up with the change of direction.

"For the same reasons as you, probably," Gilbert shrugged. "I never thought you'd be interested. I figured you tolerated my fooling around with you at best, but, y'know…" he finished off lamely, rubbing at the back of his head in a sheepish manner.

The look changed into a grin suddenly, Gilbert flashing him a little wink. "I guess we're both idiots, huh?"

Roderich scoffed, finally regaining some of his grounding at the other's cheeky behavior. "You're the only idiot here," he retorted smoothly.

Gilbert dipped his head abashedly. "But _your_ idiot?" he asked hopefully.

Roderich reached his hand out, twining it shyly with the other's. Without even seeing himself in a mirror, Roderich knew that his cheeks and the tops of his ears were colored red.

"Perhaps," he mumbled. Gilbert's grin lit up the sickly yellow of the bathroom tiles.

 _Some way to start Christmas Break_ …Roderich thought before meeting Gilbert in the middle for a long-awaited kiss.


End file.
